HIS 273 - Inventing India: Nationalism, Myth & Politics

Nationalism is an old fashioned topic which has seen a resurgence in public political discourse in recent years from the United States to India, Russia or the United Kingdom. Debates about what constitutes an “authentic past” are front and center again as battles over who is an “authentic” claimant to national identity are played out in social media, news channels, and in the violence experienced by those who do not adhere to the version of “authentic identity” in vogue at any given moment. Experts chart a global turn towards a revanchist ethno-religious nationalist conservatism. The long history and complexity of the question in India make it an excellent case study for how to historicize the “nation” concept and trace the the often contradictory valences of “nationalism” as a lived ideological framework. This course will equip students from across the social sciences to analyze the new global context of the renewed relevance of nationalism. Students will learn the skills that historical methodology offers for making sense of the world around them by focusing in on the specific historic context of the “nation” concept in India and the ways in which it is shaping contemporary everyday life in India, diasporic identity abroad and shaping the international political frame for engaging India as an important element of the global international order at a time when “decolonization” has become important as a political rhetoric.

Satisfies History major and minor requirement.
Statisfies the Historical Thought Requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity Requirement.
Satisfies a South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor requirement.